Articles

Short, focused write-ups on one circuit or one concept at a time.

All Computer Architecture Foundations Physical design
Foundations
SRAM vs DRAM vs SDRAM: The Cell-Level Differences (and Where DDR Fits In)

In the memory map article, I told you that SRAM and DRAM are the two basic cell designs everything else descends from, and that SDRAM and …

8 min read
Foundations
DDR vs GDDR vs HBM: How GPU Memory (VRAM) Actually Works

In the memory map article, I told you VRAM is just DRAM that belongs to the GPU. True, but it skips the actually interesting question: DRAM, …

7 min read
Foundations
Types of Computer Memory: What are DDR, VRAM, HBM, Cache, EEPROM, and others?

If you’ve ever tried to buy a new laptop, build a PC, or even read about the latest AI chips in the news, you’ve probably run into a …

7 min read
Physical design
What Is an Antenna Diode and Why Do We Need It?

An antenna diode is a protection diode placed in a digital IC to guard transistor gates against damage during the chip fabrication process. …

5 min read
Articles
Getting Started with Icarus Verilog and GTKWave

Icarus Verilog is one of the most popular open-source Verilog simulators, widely used for learning digital design and verifying HDL code. …

6 min read
Articles
Getting Started with SystemVerilog using Verilator and Surfer

SystemVerilog is a powerful hardware description and verification language used in modern digital design. In this tutorial, we’ll walk …

8 min read
Articles
Setting Up OpenLane using Ubuntu and Docker

OpenLane is an automated RTL to GDSII flow based on several open-source tools, enabling complete physical chip design. It uses OpenROAD, …

5 min read